FAQs Archives - Page 3 of 15 - Richard M. Langworth

Q&A: Churchill Libeled by Lord Alfred Douglas

25 January 2023 Comments 1 Comment

Lord Alfred Douglas, friend of Oscar Wilde, was involved in several scandals, one of the more unfortunate being his accusation that Churcill manipulated press announcements about the Battle of Jutland in order to favor Jewish investors on the New York Stock Market.

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Why was Churchill Named Winston?

15 January 2023 Comments 0 Comments

The pat answer is the first Sir Winston, but this is unlikely. Why would Lord and Lady Randolph Churchill name their son for a 17th century ancestor, and a fairly dubious one at that? No, it was someone more recent: his grandfather, John Winston, 7th Duke of Marlborough.

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Churchill Quotations for December 7th

6 December 2022 Comments 1 Comment

"In two or three minutes Mr. Roosevelt came through. 'Mr. President, what’s this about Japan?' 'It’s quite true,' he replied. 'They have attacked us at Pearl Harbor. We are all in the same boat now.' I put Winant on to the line and some interchanges took place, the Ambassador at first saying, 'Good, Good'—and then, apparently graver, 'Ah!' I got on again and said, 'This certainly simplifies things. God be with you,' or words to that effect."

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Churchill the Drunk. Or: Fasten Seatbelts on Bar Stools

5 October 2022 Comments 1 Comment

Churchill did have an astonishing capacity, and most historians grant him a decided preference for lubrication. But Lockhart is no more reliable than others. from Alan Brooke to Bessie Braddock, who attributed to alcohol a Churchill who worked and harangued 18 hours a day and was often exhausted…. Yet apparently not drunk enough to debate Empire Free Trade—or to spark Lockhart’s imagination.

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“Twelve million feathers on his wings, 16,000 lenses in his eye, a mouthful for a bird.” Indian butterflies. (Kailash Kumbhkar, Creative Commons)

Churchillisms: Twelve Million Feathers on a Butterfly’s Wings

30 June 2022 Comments 0 Comments

Churchill was a keen collector of butterflies in India, but in later life he couldn't bear to kill them or even keep them captive in his chrysalis house at Chartwell. Strolling by the cage on one of his walks, he left the screening open. Secretary Grace Hamblin asked, did he do that on purpose. Churchill replied, "I can't bear this captivity any longer."

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Churchill’s “Democracy is the Worst Form of Government…”

20 June 2022 Comments 2 Comments

"At the bottom of all the tributes paid to democracy is the little man, walking into the little booth, with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper—no amount of rhetoric or voluminous discussion can possibly diminish the overwhelming importance of that point."

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Anti-Bolshevik Collaborators? Reilly, Ford, Savinkov, Churchill

16 June 2022 Comments 0 Comments

Reilly considered Churchill the only useful British politician in the anti-Bolshevik cause. Shortly before his death he told a friend: “Only one man is really important, and that is the irrepressible Marlborough [WSC]. I have always remained on good terms with him…. His ear would always be open to something sound.”

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What Happened to the Library at Chartwell?

6 June 2022 Comments 1 Comment

In 1992 Michael Wybrow and I spent a day in the Chartwell library. Security was less of a concern then, and the administrator, Jeane Broome, kindly let us examine books closely. We were able to survey all the shelves and even to open (very carefully!) the odd volume. We did not attempt an inventory, but did learn the fate of many volumes.

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When Did Churchill Become a Zionist?

31 May 2022 Comments 2 Comments

"A Jewish State in Palestine is an event in world history to be viewed in the perspective, not of a generation or a century, but in the perspective of a thousand, two thousand or even three thousand years. [But] British postwar policies “led to the winding up of our affairs in Palestine in such a way as to earn almost in equal degree the hatred of the Arabs and the Jews.”

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The Problem with Recorded Churchill Speeches

27 May 2022 Comments 0 Comments

Many who heard his original speeches said the subsequent broadcasts (and postwar recordings) lack the fire of the originals. Churchill did not particularly enjoy broadcasting, Harold Nicolson believed. Of his classic 18 June 1940 "Finest Hour" oration, Nicolson said: "He just sulked and read his House of Commons speech over again."

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